For fun and escapism, most hot-blooded female bookworms turn to the latest titillating Twilight-type saga. But when we want to delve deep into our psyches – say, to discover why we continually date jerks or can’t seem to drop a dress size no matter how many bread baskets we pass up – there’s always a sparkling new self-help tome within arm’s reach. And the most popular of the bunch, frankly, aren’t all that kind or gentle.

Seems we gals love us some tough-love. We ate it up when the painfully spot-on He’s Just Not That Into You essentially called us a bunch of fools who refuse to read the neon signs being flashed by the misogynistic chumps we choose to shower with our unrequited love. Then we cheered when those infamously Skinny Bitches informed us that the real reason we’re fat and unhappy is because we repeatedly ignore common sense and “shovel the wrong crap into our mouths.” Now, the just-released Marry Him: The Case For Settling For Mr. Good Enough aims to tell us – for our own collective good, of course – that if we’re unmarried and of a certain age, it’s pretty much all our fault. You know, for having the audacity to still believe we might meet a kind, handsome, intelligent man to whom we are sexually attracted and with whom we could conceivably consider breeding and sharing adjacent cemetery plots. What’s that? You’re alone with your 16 cats and your fertility has dwindled to paltry 3 to 12 percent of what was once a bounteous cornucopia of eggs? Well, says Marry Him, don’t come crying to me.

Read No Rings Attached: Being Single Is So Hot Right Now!

Marry Him reflects the collected wisdom a 40-something woman, author Lori Gottlieb, who listened to her mom’s “don’t settle” advice – and then lived (alone) to regret it. It sounds obvious, but I’ll go ahead and say it anyway: Nobody’s perfect. Therefore, I agree with Gottlieb that saving oneself for the singular guy who fits into the arbitrary husband-mold you designed those many years ago would be utterly asinine. But how many women do you know who went into marriage thinking “Oh, he’s good enough,” only to find themselves dividing the assets and sharing custody a few short years later? Marriage is a marathon — not a sprint — and half of all couples who sign up don’t make it to the finish line as it is. If you don’t at least go into it feeling like Charlie Bucket when he found the golden ticket in his Wonka Bar, you’re in for more than just a few blisters.